Quick question: What's the only next-generation video game console with a ton of excellent exclusives that runs at 1080p/60 frames per second. I point and giggle in your general direction. Nintendo's Wii U carries that distinction with pride. Naysayers often state that the Wii's successor hasn't flown off the shells as quickly as its rivals, but true gamers recognize that Wii U is home to some of the most fun and creative games this console generation. To be fair, Wii U lacks several high-profile third-party titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops III. As a result, Nintendo basically has no other choice than to market the Wii U with nothing more than its own internally developed games, or games that it helped fund. But Nintendo is one of the greatest game developers of all time, and its Wii U games represent some of the company's strongest work yet. Wii U's unique control scheme also means it offers gameplay experiences you won't find anywhere else. While the GamePad tablet controller may not feature multi-touch like the iPad and most other contemporary touch-screen devices, its physical buttons and analog sticks make it much better for controlling video games.
Using two screens in concert, the GamePad and your television, feels a lot like using Nintendo's other dual-screen device: the Nintendo 3DS. Some games also let you play exclusively on the GamePad, freeing up the TV for someone else to use. Nintendo's next console, the mysterious NX, may be approaching faster than we think. But buying a Wii U right now will give you access to free online multiplayer, Wii backwards compatibility, and most importantly a slowly growing library of modern Nintendo classics like the 10 games featured on this list. From old favorites like Mario and Donkey Kong, to sexy witches, to trigger-happy squid kids, this console is full of pleasant surprises. Are you a fellow Wii U believer who thinks we left out a great game? Let us know in the comment section. (For more, check out the games every 3DS, PS4, and Xbox One player needs.) Click To View Slideshow »Apparently it’s possible to satirise anything, as the LEGO video games have proven over the last decade or so.
There seems to be an ever active conveyor belt of licensed LEGO games – covering everything from Marvel comics to Star Wars to Harry Potter – but they’re so joyously funny and full to the brim with fun references for fans, that this is one ever-expanding franchise we’re happy to encourage. So with the release of new virtual building block adventure Lego: Dimensions, which references and affectionately lampoons all manner of popular culture, we thought we’d take a look through some of the best in-jokes featured in the games so far. We all must have through thisat some point: who are the guys building the Death Star in Star Wars? Because if they’re anything like the builders we have on planet Earth, it’s no wonder there were flaws in the plan (no offence builders). In the first cutscene of Return of the Jedi in the LEGO game, Darth Vader arrives at the Death Star and is greeted by the admiral. Across the way are a team of builders, slacking off, spinning on chairs and sipping coffee instead of getting to work fixing all those holes that lead directly to the space station’s essential power core, and that are just big enough for an enemy ship to fit down with ease.
It’s no wonder it blew up, really. In the film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, upon opening, the Ark releases evil spirits that kill defilers of the ancient relic by accelerating their ageing process, and thus, disintegrating their life force. In the LEGO game, it releases a disco ball that forces all the characters to dance to the Star Wars theme. Oh, don’t worry, it does kill them in the end, but there’s a good 20 seconds of seeing enemy soldiers throwing some serious shapes to the theme that plays at the end of A New Hope. What’d be worse: dying horrifically or being forced to dance till the end of time? It’s too tough of a choice to make on a Friday… Remember the scene in Jurassic Park where the car falls down on top of them, and Timmy goes: “Well, we’re back in the car again”? The LEGO game takes it to a whole new level. The car parts fall off, and land around Alan and the kids, building the car back up again. When the camera pans out, they’re actually sat in the car, as if they’d just driven down the tree.
There’s even a little LEGO build completion noise when it finishes assembling. It’s like meta comedy, where LEGO not only take the mick out of the film by exaggerating the quote, but mock themselves also. Can’t help but love it. How infuriating was it in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Mr. Lovegood is attempting to fool the trio into staying at his house long enough for the Death Eaters to arrive, and he’s just so tactless about it? Well, the LEGO game captures this perfectly. When Hermione hints at wanting to see Luna, Mr. Lovegood goes up stairs and dresses up in her clothes, making a horribly bad attempt at tricking the heroes. Watch the level here, and the scene is at 7:03. Even the most casual Lord of the Rings fan will remember the drawn out death of Boromir, in which he takes three arrows to the chest whilst defending Merry and Pippin, before finally dying (and it’s all really sad). Well, the LEGO games doing what they do best, turned that harrowing moment of bravery from tragedy into comedy.
We’re not going to lie, it’s a little less epic, but a small bit of humour never hurt anyone, did it? Well, except Boromir… and we bet that banana has seen better days as well. For those outside the loop, the early LEGO games didn’t have speech in them, so the characters would make gestures to explain what they were saying. Obviously, they needed to come up with a way to show Darth Vader saying the infamous line “I am your father”, and this is what they did. Holding up a family photo of two people Luke would have no way of recognising. How brilliant is that? To be fair, it was probably the best option at the time. It was either that, or he scribbles it down on a whiteboard and holds it up, and that’s a bit much. Am I the only one that felt a little bit bad for the goblin that fell down into Gollum’s cave with Bilbo in The Hobbit? I know he’s evil and all that jazz, but he just gets clubbed over the head with a massive rock. Thankfully, LEGO saw to it that this goblin got the recognition that he deserves, and in the game he actually just gets slightly dazed from the fall, and continues to help Bilbo throughout the level.